HELENA – Barack Obama’s campaign is taking the unusual step of launching a general election fight in Montana. The campaign says it is hiring a full time Montana state director and considers the traditional Republican stronghold a critical state. The campaign also says it is hiring state directors in Alaska, Iowa, New Mexico and Oregon. […]

HELENA – New campaign finance reports show Gov. Brian Schweitzer is in front of challenger Roy Brown in the money race. Schweitzer, the incumbent Democrat, has more than $1.1 million in his campaign account. Brown has about $340,000. Schweitzer reports raising $140,000 in the past month. That compares with Brown’s $98,000. Brown does continue to […]

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by W.R. Grace & Co. in a criminal case brought by the government over the company’s alleged release of asbestos from a Montana mine. Federal prosecutors charged the company and six of its executives in February 2005 with violating the Clean Air Act by releasing […]

HELENA – The wildfire season is looking like it will be much easier on Montana than last year, fire managers told Gov. Brian Schweitzer Monday. Strong mountain snowpack and cool, wet spring weather are combining to put the state in a far better position than last year when fires plagued much of the state during […]

HELENA – The Republican convention last weekend in Missoula was led by calls for unity — and for good reason. The party has a U.S. Senate nominee it doesn’t really want, hundreds of newcomers who support a man who is not the presumptive presidential nominee and three state lawmakers who are waging write-in candidacies after […]

WASHINGTON – Politicians from northern Canada want to allow U.S. hunters to continue to kill polar bears for sport. The politicians were in Washington, D.C., on Monday to press their appeal. The politicians want the Interior Department to continue allowing U.S. sportsmen to bring back polar bear hides after their hunts in Canada’s Arctic region. […]

Good morning, and happy anniversary to the first widely reported UFO sighting in the U.S. and the coining of the term “flying saucer.” On the Beacon this morning, Keriann Lynch gives tribute to George Carlin. At the state GOP convention, party officials look for unity. Fire managers told Gov. Schweitzer that this summer’s fire season […]

A Flathead County Planning Board meeting last week meant to clarify the regulatory or advisory nature of neighborhood plans has instead left the intent of the plans still muddied, possibly extending a clear resolution for another year and a half. Against the recommendation of county planning staff, the board rejected a zoning text amendment last […]

In an effort to correct inconsistencies between state and local gravel pit permits, the Flathead County Planning Board voted last week to recommend the county issue permits before the pits received state approval – providing applicants supply the county with the same information required by the state. Currently, county zoning regulations require that the state’s […]

GREAT FALLS – A Great Falls man has been charged with felony criminal endangerment after prosecutors said he shot his friend in the face with a gun he forgot he loaded after an afternoon “quick draw” contest. Henry Haviland, 23, was hospitalized in serious but stable condition with a gunshot wound to the jaw. Zachary […]

GREAT FALLS – Nearly all of Montana’s wildland fire crews — Hot Shots included — have been sent to California or are in the process of being sent there to fight wildfires. Gary Boyd is an assistant center manager with the Northern Rockies Coordinating Center in Missoula. He says that, right now, Montana is helping […]

The Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Monday included the following: 6:52 a.m. A Kalispell woman called in to report that someone broke a window out of her car. The car was in her driveway. 9:38 a.m. An avian lover called in to report a wounded woodpecker. 9:56 Someone on Labrant Drive in Kalispell reported that […]

Almost five years ago my friend went to China to study for a semester abroad. He never came back. So I had good reason to be shocked when he randomly called me the other day and said, “Hey man, what’s going on?” I asked him a similar question. In this digital age of instant communication, […]

Albert Schwagel, 86, was crouched in a small sphere attached to the underbelly of a B-17 bomber when he was shot down for the third time during World War II. He survived the crash only to spend the next 479 days in Stalag 17, a German prisoner-of-war camp. Still, Schwagel, who now lives 10 miles […]

KALISPELL – This year’s Flathead cherry harvest will be later than usual, but that’s good news for growers. “The later we are, the bigger the price,” said Dale Nelson, president of the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers. “It’s supply and demand. By the end of July, we’ll have the only cherries in North America.” Frost and […]